John Putnam was a well-known musician in the Greenfield, Massachusetts, area in the mid- to late 1800s. He was a barber in Greenfield but “a musician by preference,” as band member J.A. Taggart remembered him. Putnam played violin and was a band leader and dance prompter (the person who calls out dance moves). He could play and prompt at the same time. By 1875, he had formed Putnam’s Orchestra. “Put’s music” was always in great demand. The group played all over the area, traveling by horse-drawn carriage or sleigh. Stories passed down in Putnam’s family also tell of his helping with the Underground Railroad. Putnam died in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1895. In 2002, the first annual John Putnam Fiddlers’ Reunion took place in Greenfield, with descendants from around the country attending.